Time to Save a Bit of Local History

05 Jan Time to Save a Bit of Local History

In the space of just a few blocks just past Main Street that wrap around downtown Lynchburg can be found a treasure trove of the history of Central Virginia’s African-American community.

Fifth Street, for decades, was the cultural and economic black “Main Street,” home of a myriad of black-owned businesses, clubs that hosted some of the luminaries of the Jazz Age and other institutions that sustained the community throughout the age of Jim Crow.

Travel down Fifth Street, take a left at Park Avenue and another left off Park onto Pierce Street, and you’re in a neighborhood like none other in the Hill City. There you’ll be walking in the steps of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer, her son and black aviation pioneer Chauncey Spencer, acclaimed college educator Frank Trigg, longtime Lynchburg educator and vice mayor Clarence W. Seay and physician and sports legend Walter Johnson.

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Whirlwind Johnson Foundation

Our mission is to restore and preserve the home, tennis court, garden, and legacy of Dr. Robert Walter “Whirlwind” Johnson for generations to come. "Dr. J" as his players called him, would become a driving force in not only integrating the sport of tennis, but also producing some of it's most recognized champions. From a small house in Lynchburg, he and his players made an impact across the globe.